Life after Harvard

A degree in engineering and applied sciences, especially in a liberal arts context, is practical.

Ultimately, acquiring a degree in engineering and applied sciences from Harvard can be both fulfilling and fun, even with all those problem sets.

The degree is also very practical—which, given the cost of college these days as well as the cost of living, matters.

You can be an engineer... or well, anything else you want to be.

Most important, our curriculum offers excellent preparation, whether you are intending to practice as an engineer, researcher, or physician; are planning for a career in business, education, government, law, or medicine; or have no idea what you want to be when you grow up.

We want our passion for discovery and innovation to attract the curious, inspire a future generation of globally educated leaders, and help improve society and the world.

Students go on to pursue a wide variety of paths.

Primary Activity Post Harvard

Class Year 2015

Class Year 2016

Work

83%

80%

Graduate school

9%

9%

Military services

1%

1%

Undecided

0%

3%

Other

7%

7%

Primary Occupation Post Harvard

Class Year 2015

Class Year 2016

Communications/marketing/advertising/public relations

0%

1%

Computer/Information technology

34%

34%

Community/social services

0%

0%

Consulting

13%

10%

Consumer goods/retail

0%

0%

Education

0%

1%

Engineering

11%

11%

Entertainment/professional sports

2%

1%

Environment

1%

1%

Financial services

15%

15%

Fine or Performing Art

1%

1%

Healthcare and medicine

1%

3%

Law

0%

0%

Military

0%

0%

Other

3%

0%

Public policy/politics

1%

0%

Publishing/media/journalism

0%

0%

Sciences

0%

0%

What are some of the graduate programs that students attend?

A list of universities members of the class of 2016 are attending...​

Carnegie Mellon University

Columbia University

Cornell University

Harvard University

Johns Hopkins University

MIT

New England Conservatory

NYU

Northwestern University

Princeton University

Stanford University

The Juilliard School

UC Berkeley

University of Cambridge

University of Chicago

University of Pennsylvania

University of Oxford

Yale University

How do students holding engineering and applied sciences degrees fair in the marketplace?

"The top 15 highest-earning college degrees all have one thing in common -- math skills. That's according to a recent survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which tracks college graduates' job offers... Specifically, engineering diplomas account for 12 of the 15 the top-paying majors. NACE collects its data by surveying 200 college career centers." (CNN/Money).

What do engineering and applied sciences graduates go on to do?

Anything and everything.

Banker

“While I wrestled with philosophy or abstract computing theories, I was concerned that students at other universities were receiving a more practical, technical education,” he says. “But I gained a much broader perspective on technology.”

Baker

Given that surveys predict most individuals will have several careers during their working lives, not all those who earn technical degrees will limit themselves to technical fields—at least in the traditional sense.

Joanne Chang '91 (Applied Math/Economics) went from consulting at the Monitor Group to being the pastry chef/owner of Flour Bakery in Boston (famed for making its own pop tarts and sticky buns).

CGI-maker

“It was fall of 1994 in my junior year,” she recalls. “I was sitting in Professor Joe Marks’s computer graphics class. He showed a couple of the Pixar short films one day, and I absolutely fell in love with computer animation. It was like everything I had ever tried to do, taken 10 million levels up.”